Page 62 of A Secret Escape

“Yes. I made it fresh this morning.” She pulled a box out of the other bag. “And I brought you a slice of my chocolate fudge cake.”

“I think I might be falling in love with you.”

She knew he was joking, but still his comment made her heart pound a little harder. “You should probably taste it before you make the final decision.”

He put the towel over the back of the chair. “What’s your favorite food? Does anyone ever cook for you?”

“Cook forme? No. I mean, Zoe helps. She loves cooking too. It’s something we do together.”

“Have dinner with me tonight.”

Dinner? She was so surprised she almost dropped the box containing the thick wedge of chocolate cake.

Why was he asking her? Because he felt guilty that she was cleaning his cabin at a weekend? Because he felt he needed to pay her back for the food? Her mind spiraled through the options.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well, having tasted the quality of your food I’m not offering to cook for you. I’d be too nervous of scaring you away.” He gave a wry smile. “I was thinking a restaurant. A good one, so that you’re not sitting there thinking you can make something better at home. You have more than your fair share of fine dining establishments around here.”

“That’s a kind offer, but you don’t have to do that.” She was embarrassed that he thought he should. Maybe she shouldn’t have brought him food. In trying to make his life a little easier, she’d overstepped.

He frowned. “I’m not inviting you out of some sense of obligation, Milly. You’re good company. I’d like to take you for dinner. If you’d like to join me.”

Was she good company?

She stared at him, trying to read his mind, wishing she was better at this.She’d let Richard crush her confidence so badly that when a man asked her to dinner she assumed he was being polite.

But Brendan thought she was good company. Not boring or a martyr.

And now she was tempted. More than tempted.

Dinner would mean dressing up and eating in a restaurant where someone else had prepared the food.

When had she last done that?

Richard’s voice echoed in her head.You don’t know how to enjoy yourself.

Brendan was watching her. “If you have other plans, it’s not a problem.”

Plans?

She thought about Nicole but knew her friend well enough to know that Nicole would want her to go. More than that, if she turned him down and Nicole found out, then she’d probably kill her.

“I don’t have other plans.” She said the words before she could think her way to saying no. Her plan had been to get through the weekend as best she could, filling every moment with work. But now he was offering her an alternative. And she was going to take it. She’d prove to Richard, and to herself, that she was more than capable of enjoying herself. “Thank you. I’d like that. Where did you have in mind?”

He mentioned a restaurant that was so well-known she knew right away there was no chance of them being able to get a reservation.

“You wouldn’t get a table at this short notice. People travel from everywhere just to eat there.”

“Have you eaten there?”

“No, but it’s the place I recommend to guests when they have a special celebration.” She didn’t add that it was outside her price range and that there was no way Richard would ever have paid that much for a plate of food Milly could cook him at home. “You have to book at least three months in advance.”

“I’ll give them a call. They might have a cancellation.”

She thought he was being overly optimistic, but then she remembered that he was famous and probably had contacts. “Would you like me to call them?”

“No. You do far too much as it is. I’ve got this.”

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